msh89

I had my hair transplant about a year and one month ago, and it didn't turn out how i would have imagined at all. however, i still have a good amount of native hair, just thinning, and enough hair on my crown to pull off a buzz cut and dermmatch unnoticed. i want to get SMP to fill in the thinning spots, and if i keep my hair buzzed, i think it would turn out really well! i read that a HT takes around 16 months to fully see the end results though, so i was wondering if should hold off until that mark, or if it doesn't matter. not sure if i am expected to see a lot more growth, or if what i see so far is as good as it will get. i don't want to prematurely get SMP, and then have more hair grow and it look too dense in spots. thanks!

i just entered my 7th month post op. had 3200 grafts transplanted in the forelock and crown areas. i had quite a bit of native hair, just thinning, but my crown had two nickel sized areas that were pretty barren. not exactly sure how the grafts were split, but there was work done on both areas. i've noticed a slight difference in the forelock area. still a little weak, but i know the hairs have to strengthen up over time. however, i've seen very little, if any, progress in the crown area. i gently touch the area, and it feels like there are very small prickly hairs, so maybe that's something? otherwise, i'm getting increasingly paranoid that there will be no difference, since i'm so far along already and nothing new has shown. anyone have experience with no growth on crown, and suddenly it showed up way late? taking fina+minox. also, i use dermmatch everyday, take it off right after work. maybe 9-10 hours tops everyday except weekends, not sure if that affects anything. thanks!

i decided to give emu oil a shot for its numerous benefits, mainly it's enhanced absorption qualities. i would be applying minoxidil first, letting it partially dry, and then adding the emu oil on top of it. my question is, once the emu oil is dry, does it STOP enhancing the absorption rate of other products? reason being is, i've been using a combination of dermmatch, hairspray, and baby powder on my head to conceal any thin spots and my scar. having buzzed hair, i've came up with a method that works almost flawlessly, and have never had an issue besides maybe an itchy scalp once in a while. with the addition of emu oil on my scalp, after it is dry, will it still increase the absorption rate of the ingredients/chemicals from the dermmatch/hairspray/babypowder? i'd hate to think of all the nasty crap that would be pushed deeper into my scalp, mainly from the hairspray. also, anyone have any experience using emu oil and then dermmatch? i understand if you use too much it gets a bit greasy, but assuming you use just the right amount and it dries fine, does dermmatch still apply normally? thanks!

not to worry at all. 3 months is the earliest you will start seeing growth, and everything will probably grow in differently. best bet is to get some concealer/fibers and ride it out, unfortunately.

i know it's much too early to tell how my scar will look once the appropriate time has passed, but of course i look at it as often as i walk into the bathroom, and worry about it stretching. for some reason, the left side has more noticeable skin showing than the right side. i can only hope it's shock, but just to be extra careful and preventative, is it possible to try and do skin stretches for the nape of the neck to ease some tension? sort of like the laxity exercises where you grab the back of the head and pull it up and down, but instead of pulling it down, just push it up, hold, then gently let it go back into it's normal place. not directly on the scar of course, but pressing half an inch to an inch right below it, pressing firmly into the skin. thoughts? i tried doing a few, and it actually made my scar feel better, so no pain there. just a matter of will this actually be beneficial to keep doing or not.

thanks for the responses everyone! unfortunately i can't keep my hair buzzed anymore because i have already underwent one surgery. guess i'll just have to wait a year and see how things look once it grows out and hope for the best!

this might be the answer to my prayers! i'm trying so hard not to itch, and it's driving me crazy! i've been patting gently and that kind of helps, otherwise i just sit there and scream on the inside. the only thing that i wonder about is if its healthy for the grafts? i know olive oil is great to condition the actual hair shaft, but would the thick oil on the scalp prevent the pore from breathing?

10 days post op, buzzed native hair so it was the same length of the transplanted hair and all my problem spots look really good given the condition, so i'm really excited/happy. however, the one thing i hoped to sort as a last option was my receding hairline, but the grafts were used elsewhere, and i'm okay with that being my first surgery. i'm completely fine with where my center hairline stands on my forehead, kind of makes it look large, but not too bad. however, it begins to recede into the corners further back, and that's the part that kind of bothers me. i hope to grow my hair out longer/shaggy, and my hair gets curly as well, which would help with looking more dense, but not sure if it will help with hiding my receding corners. anyone with the same hairline as me and longer hair able to share what their current style looks like? or any predictions? tried googling "receding hair lines" and looked at celebrity pictures and such, but i'm hyper critical of my hairline and don't really know where i would stand with longer hair. also on a side note, how many grafts would you think be needed to sort out the corners? it's such a small area, like 1inchx1.5inch on each side, if that. i'd probably go FUE since i don't think i'd need much. thanks!

i don't know if this works for scalp sweating, but i know you can get botox injections in your armpits if you have excessive sweating in that area. maybe look into it for your head? kind of expensive, but if possible, a sure shot solution.

about 8 days post op, and i can't help but look at my head everytime i walk into the bathroom however, there is something that i wondered, and then there was something that bothered me. i know the transplanted hairs will fall out eventually, but do they grow in the mean time? i can see my hair getting longer in the grafted area, but i just assumed it was my native hair growing in after being shaved. and aside from that, i look at my crown area and it looks like there are spots that don't have any visible hair, but the pores look like they have little black dots in them. is that hair/follicle? or just clogged from blood? i'm not sure if the hair had already fallen out and the follicle still remained, or if that spot just didn't get any grafts. my scabbing/redness is going great. i'd say i only have 10% redness and just flakey skin, that's it. no bleeding at all. only thing now is donor area itches like crazy! and so do the grafts, but i don't itch them. maybe sometimes gently pat, but that's it. thanks for the input!

i skimmed the forums a bit and could only find topics about scar revision or camouflaging, however my question is a bit about preemptive care, is there anything i could do to help my scar heal better, and possible smaller? i'm 4 days post op, and ive been washing my hair very gently everyday. my post-op instructions say i can be more aggressive with cleaning the donor area vs the recipient area. with the shampoo i was provided, i first mildly rub my scar area to loosen and wash away any crusts/scabs, then i rinse and apply shampoo again, and let it sit while i wash the recipient area. afterwards, i apply a thin layer of the antibacterial cream i was given, then apply it again at night, without washing my hair again. my scalp is pretty tight in the back, and i've had some significant swelling, so i just started icing the back because this is the first day it doesn't hurt. anything else i should be doing? or once the staples are removed? i understand scarring is inevitable, but i hope to minimize it as much as possible while i still have the chance. thank you!

it's been about 4 days since i had my surgery. i'd say my graft area redness has decreased almost 60% and there is almost no scabs on my head. everything is lookin' pretty good! everything except the stupid hat they gave me to wear after surgery :mad: it's pretty much a very large, loose fitting truckers hat. my question is, would it cause problems if i were to start wearing a different hat? i have a slightly tighter but more visually pleasing snap-back truckers hat that i'd be wearing backwards and really loose. as far as i can tell, there seems to be very little to no pressure on my grafts, and i dont think there's a chance they're get caught on the cap and be pulled out. i have orientation for college and frankly the other hat made me look like i was about to start shooting people up at any given second ;/

also, if you're self conscious right now, you could get some bangs, or even use toppik or dermmatch, both are great products. hairspray will enhance their effectiveness even more

hi! don't despair, hair will grow for up to 12 months to see your final results. how many grafts did you actually get? it looks like there was a significant amount of grafting put in your hairline. it will take a while for the ones that have already sprouted to strengthen up as well. are you taking any supplements for hair growth? a lot of people recommend taking MSM or Biotin to help with speeding things up and keeping hair healthy. i've also heard good reviews about something called Biosil. all three of those will help strengthen hair and increase follicle diameter, meaning you're hair will look thicker. good luck to you! here i sit with fresh grafts on my head worrying about the same things as you, so i can relate.

i was told by my hair transplant doctor to take only name-brand proscar instead of getting generic 5mg finasterides and cutting them up. i thought that was a little weird considering generics are usually just as good, but upon further research i read people claiming they hit a wall with taking generics for a while and started losing hair again, only to halt it by switching to name brand proscar. the price difference isnt really an issue for me. i'm already in this deep, i'd rather pay more for a medication that is going to work than save a few bucks and hope that the generics won't give up on me. my problem is, would the sides be worse if i switched to name brand? i've been taking finasteride for about 3 or so years, and never really had any sexual problems until recently. my "solo libido" went to zero, so i experimented a little to see if i could perform with another person. i could, but it felt like if there was any sort of pause/distraction, or if anything "unattractive" were to happen, i'd start to go limp, and never fully got to 100% except for a few moments here and there. also the longer we went, i felt like it started to go numb/just didn't feel good anymore, but that might be different issue. anyone experience worse sides from switching from generic to name brand?

so i'm about a month away from my procedure date, and i've been doing my scalp laxity exercises for the past two weeks. mostly i've only been able to do them at night, but i try to do double-time to make up for not having done them in the morning. what i'm wondering though, is what is my scalp supposed to look/feel like so i know i'm actually benefitting from doing these exercises? when i place my palms on each side and go up and down, i definitely feel like there's an excess amount of skin, but when i put them on the back and pull up and down, it doesn't feel as much as the sides do. getting 3,500 grafts done, so not sure how stretchy my scalp needs to be!

i'm anticipating the worst when it comes to recovery time up until around the 3 month mark where i'm hoping to see some growth! but with my current system, i was concerned for the health of my upcoming new grafts. i put dermmatch on my entire scalp/hair, then spray it down with hairspray, then rub baby powder in to eliminate shine/blend everything together. will this prevent growth or even ruin my grafts? also, would this be a good way to hide the strip scar until my transplanted hair grows? i know there are a lot of other threads with the same question, but my main concern is the fact that i use hairspray to basically glue it to my head. not sure if this is common practice or not. my hair is about a #1 on the sides and a #2 on top. even with two almost completely bald spots, albeit small, in my crown area, nobody can tell as far as i'm told. so i have to wonder if using my current method would be viable for hiding the strip scar until until i start seeing results, without damaging the new grafts. thanks!

depends on how much hair you have. i went about three years comfortably using courve concealer, toppik hair fibers, and a bunch of hair spray. my hair was about three or so inches on top and i was able to blend everything in pretty well to conceal any thinning spots. i'm now shaved down to a buzz cut and switched to using dermmatch, no fibers, and nobody can tell as far as i'm concerned. it took me a while to find the best way to apply it so it doesn't look like i totally painted my scalp, though. the hairline is the hardest part! and of course, i cant get wet AT ALL. at least, i don't want to risk even trying. as far as a wig goes, knowing it was fake hair plus even risking the chance of anyone ever finding out/having it come off would be worse than being bald, in my opinion.

it doesn't have to be shampoo. i sometimes use a ph balancing face wash to rinse off my concealer if i screw up and have to restart. heck, even water would work, just not as good. they're not as waterproof as the company claims

aside from my main combo of fina, minox(kirkland 5% in morning, lipogain at night), and revivogen(daily) / nizoral (once a week, sometimes longer), i've began looking into supplements, and after looking at everything i have, i'm wondering if this could be overkill or even unhealthy. so far, i have: fish oil 1200mg, once a day l-arginine 500mg, twice a day (morning and night) GNC mega men multi-vit, once a day taurine 1000mg, once a day MSM 1000mg, twice a day (morning and night) Biotin 1700mcg, twice a day (morning and night) all my once a days i take in the morning with a glass of Emergen-C 1000mg (vitamin C, duh). the biotin and the emergen-c also have some extras in them too, but too many to list. i'm also gluten-free and have a hard time finding things to eat, so i feel like i am already vitamin deficient from eating a lot of the same things, albeit healthy choices. am i going to have a heart attack or just shit my pants one day from taking all these? :eek: open for suggestions on taking more/less/none/something different! i was also looking into getting some Biosil (silicon supplement, google it). its another "hair, skin, and nails" type deal but some of the reviews are promising, i just don't know if taking that plus biotin and msm will make me turn into a werewolf, but still with bald spots :mad: if none of these things work necessarily for hair-related issues, there are plenty of other benefits to reap from them, so i guess its not a total loss, i just don't want to be over-doing it health-wise.

i was using the kirkland 5% liquid and then switched to the foam for convenience. within a week my eyes felt like they had sand in them one day and progressively got very red and more irritated. after leaving the optometrist to shut out any thoughts of pink eye or something else of the sorts, my friend asked me if i had added any new foaming hair products to my arsenal, and proceeded to tell me that there is an ingredient in some foaming products that can cause irritation in areas other than just your scalp. so just a heads up for anyone thinking about the foam. if it works for you then great! i'm jealous, and apparently unlucky. i've never had any eye problems prior except for horrible vision, and frankly the liquid has never given me any issues except for a few days of extremely itchy scalp at night. if you look in the ingredients for the foam, there is a bunch of other things compared to just those in the liquid, namely BUTANE. i'm no chemist but i don't think putting lighter fluid on my head is a good idea.

i'd say keep going! but keep an eye on it and if you notice it happens frequently, or if any other type of weird pain pops up, i would talk to your doctor about it. usually if you have any sides, they will diminish after a while. i used to have pains in my sack and that went away.

hi all. been taking finasteride for the past few years. on and off with minoxidil, right now i'm using kirkland sig 5% liquid in the morning, let it dry for 5-10 minutes, then put on dermmatch and hairspray everything down. other than using revivogen shampoo daily, that's pretty much it. last week i bought some nizoral and got really excited because its one of the "big three" and thought it would help. i don't think i've ever had a shedding issue, but i definitely noticed my problem area (crown) get noticeable worse, but i'm sure it's to blame on using it too much (every two&a half days or so, three times). even so, i still don't think i want to use nizoral again. i looked into Lipogaine because i saw a lot of people posting about it and it looks promising. i feel like it would be a good idea to try it out. also, after reading this thread ( http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/166660-new-study-shows-dramatic-increase-hair-adding-low-dose-avodart-finasteride.html ), i really want to try adding .5mg of dutasteride to my regime and see what happens. my hair loss has slowed/stopped but has been pretty aggressive, and i'm hoping this will also benefit me a lot. so here are my questions: 1. would using minoxidil twice a day make a big difference or is once a day alright? 2. am i looking at a huge shed by switching brands of minox? (kirkland to lipogaine) 3. will the dutasteride make me shed, or contribute to an even greater shed if it happens with the minox switch? 4. how do you even get dutasteride? when i got prescribed for finasteride, i asked my doctor about it and she shot me down instantly. 5. anything else i should be doing/trying? i'm almost on track for a HT in January for 3500 grafts, and i'm really excited. i'm just worried that there will be spots that are still noticeably thin after everything is done and grown, so a bit of regrowth would be great! thanks for your input!

i have yet to decide on a clinic and inquire about prices, but from what i can tell reading around, people are saying its between 2-5k

i would have to agree with it being more safe getting SMP first. i feel like i already have enough native hair to justify having SMP done with good results in terms of the appearence of density while having a buzzed cut. my only dilemma is considering the lower yet still high cost of SMP vs. just saving longer, getting a HT and hoping for the best then later on getting SMP to fill in any areas lacking density plus going over the scar. aghh pros and cons for both.